Creative Twilight is a casual wargaming blog with a hobby focus. We cover conversions, sculpting, painting, and more. We also have lots of hobby tutorials, guides, and reviews for various gaming systems.

We’re just a bunch of people who like to play games. So, sit back, relax, join the community, and have fun.

The Year in Review for 2016

Well, it’s that time where I throw my hat in the ring of blogs doing a year in review. I do enjoy doing these every year, but I realize it’s not all that exciting for readers. Hopefully it won’t bore you too much :)

The Numbers

Let’s start with the numbers, and compare this year to last year.

In 2016 we published 165 articles, which isn’t bad at all. In 2015 we created 150 articles, so it’s an increase. I took on a handful of new authors in 2016, which was a goal of mine that I set. Once upon a time I would write 165 articles a year by myself. Those were the good old days. Now, I don’t have the time to do that, nor the inclination. I would rather put out one great article than ten lousy ones; a lesson I learned the hard way.

Anyway, having a collection of authors has allowed me to do more work managing the blog, promoting it, and trying to grow it. It also creates a diversity of articles here that seems to be slowly gaining traction, and pulling in new readers.

Speaking of visitors, this year saw an increase of visitors to the site by 37%! When I say visitors, I mean actual people, not the site’s traffic. I was pretty surprised to see that. More and more people are finding the blog, which is awesome.

Related, the actual traffic for the site (visits) also saw an increase. You would hope so with more visitors coming here, but you never know. There was a 21% increase in traffic this year compared to last. The best part is that from 2013 on, the blog has seen a slow and steady increase in traffic. In general the blog has always seen a growth, but there was a dip from 2012 to 2013. However, looking at the big picture, it’s always been getting better, and I couldn’t ask for more than that.

Now, my favorite stat to check out. In 2016 the blog received 22% more comments than the previous year. This year may be the biggest increase in comments. I could verify that, but I’m lazy. So, not only did the blog pull in more visitors, and get more traffic, but those people are engaging with the site, and that’s always been my goal. More traffic is meaningless if it’s hollow. Meaning, they show up, read a paragraph, and leave the site never to return. The increase we’ve seen here has been meaningful, and I thank all of you readers for that.

Oh, the articles compared to comments gives an average of every article receiving 14 comments. I’m really happy about that number!

Top 6 Posts of 2016

Below is a list of the top 6 articles based on views. Of those 6, only 2 of them were written in 2016. I’ve done a ton of SEO (search engine optimization) on the blog over the years. The result is that older articles are still getting a ton of traffic many years later. That’s always the goal with an article, to write something that stands the test of time, but only a few will make it to the top.

How to Make Your Own Miniature Foam Trays – This was the most viewed article last year as well. It’s my tutorial, first one I ever did in fact, on making foam trays for your miniatures. I wrote this bad boy in 2010. I still make my own trays this way to this day.

How to Play 40K: Choosing the Right Army – This article is part of a series I did in 2015 on how to play 40K. The series covers introducing Warhammer 40K, picking your army, all the way to playing your first game. The series has done well, but the stand out article in that series is this one, at least in terms of traffic.

A Guide on How to Use Liquid Green Stuff– A tutorial I did in 2015 on how to use liquid Green Stuff for gap filling. I’d really like to do more tutorials like this in the future, especially since this one has done so well.

How to Paint Gold – The Sable Warlock Way– What’s impressive with this, in terms of making the top 6 list, is that it was created by Sable Warlock in June. This tutorial on how to paint gold is only 6 months old, yet it made it to #4 on the list of most viewed articles. Nice job, Warlock!

Age of Sigmar Review: First Taste– Good to see another article in the list by another new – well new’ish, author, Eternal Wargamer. Eternal wrote this in 2015, but Age of Sigmar keeps gaining traction in the wargaming community, and this article continues to be found by those searching AoS info.

A Look Ahead

I’m hoping to continue picking up new authors. I would love to cover a wider range of games here. Right now Warhammer 40K is heavily covered, and Age of Sigmar stuff is growing. Now that I’ve gotten in Blood Bowl, that range of articles will grow as well. There’s just so many games though, and I feel like we’re just scratching the surface.

I am also going to try to write-up some more tutorials, I just have to figure out what. The thing with tutorials is that it should be something you know very well, and feel you can pass on some knowledge in covering, and I just don’t know what that would be. Totally open to ideas here.

Related, I would also like to create more resources here. I have a small list of custom Maelstrom of War missions, so more stuff like that. Not missions necessarily, just things of value that continue to bring people back.

Growing the blog will continue to be a goal. Reaching out more on social media is an area I need to improve on. There’s a lot of potential readers on social networks, and I just need to take the time to work that angle more.

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